Sunday, April 24, 2016

C. L. R. James – Every Cook Can Govern

A study of Democracy in Ancient Greece – Its Meaning for
Today

1952

A review

Back
in the 1970’s I had the opportunity of listening to C. L. R. James speak on
three different occasions.These events
were held at the Militant Labor Forum sponsored by the Socialist Workers Party
in Brooklyn, New York.From what I
recall, James impressed me as few other speakers I’ve heard in my
lifetime.

Brooklyn,
if taken by itself, is one of the largest cities in the United States.A large part of the Black population of this
borough was born or has family from the Caribbean or Africa.On the occasions when I listened to C. L. R.
James speak, there was a large turnout of people who viewed him as an
outstanding leader from the Caribbean.

James
was born in Trinidad.He worked for a
time as a sports reporter for the Manchester Guardian in Britain.He supported the idea of Marxist
politics.For a time, he gravitated to
the Socialist Workers Party and met with Leon Trotsky in Mexico.

His
book The Black Jacobins is a classic
historical work.The so-called history
we learn in high school is a glorification of the history of the United States
and Europe.In The Black Jacobins, James explained how a revolution of slaves in
Haiti defeated the British, Spanish, and French armed forces.This book was one of the first that prompted
my lifelong curiosity of history.

James’
article, Every Cook Can Govern is
available on the internet in the Marxist Internet Archive.While the article was written in 1956, it
could have been written yesterday.The
article shows, from a historical point of view, what a democracy looks
like.The politicians who support the
current political system in the United States argue that we have a democracy.This argument falls apart when we look at the reality that existed
in the city-state of Athens around 400 BC.

The pros and cons of Athenian democracy

Before
I write about the benefits of Athenian democracy, I will mention its
shortcomings that led in part to its demise.The ancient city-state of Athens was a slave society.There were also many people who lived in
Athens who were not born there and did not have citizenship rights.Women were also excluded from
government.During the period when
Athens had a “democracy” the population was about 400,000, but no more than
43,000 were citizens.

In
my readings of slavery, I’ve found that technological innovation was very
difficult where slavery was the law.In
order for technology to advance there must be a climate where inventors are
encouraged to create.There must also be
workers who have an incentive to transform inventions into useful commodities.

In
slave societies, slaves have little interest in scientific innovation.Slave owners have little or no interest in
educating slaves.The primary goal of
the slave isn’t to develop new technologies, but to become free.However, history has all kinds of exceptions
and the facts are that the ancient city-state of Athens made some of the most
important advances in human history.

Athens
was also an imperial power that went to war to dominate the people of other
nations.There is no question that on
occasions the Athenians were brutally repressive against the people they
conquered.Because Athens was not
capable of sustaining itself, dominating other nations was the only way for
their world to advance.Because of the
advances in technology, today the people of the world have the potential to
advance together.This means that under a
truly democratic political system workers and farmers would be able to live in
harmony.

We
might consider that C. L. R. James found no contradiction in writing about the
democracy of the Athenian slave world and also writing about the slave
revolution in Haiti.Before democracy,
Athens had experienced a number of repressive regimes.According to Aristotle, the influence of the
Greek Hill party was the basis for Athenian democracy.This Hill party was made up of artisans,
small shopkeepers, indigent peasants, miners, as well as the more progressive
merchants and manufacturers.

C.
L. R. James gives the following summary of some of the most important Greek
scholars:

All
these intellectuals flourished in an atmosphere the Greeks called isonomia.This word translates to democracy,
but for the Greeks this word also meant equality.This meant that literally all Greek
citizens participated in making decisions that affected everyone.Those who chose not to participate in this
process were labeled idiotes.This is translated to the word idiot.

Decisions
in democratic Athens were made in public assemblies.These assemblies appointed officials,
generals, and decided on the questions of taxation and war.Every year 6,000 people became the effective
government.They were divided into
groups of 500.These people were citizens
who were chosen at random and made all decisions of government that included
trials by juries of 500.Judges were
mere secretaries who took notes and followed the orders of the 500 who were
charged with making the final decisions.

The
consciousness of the Greek citizen in these societies was completely different
from what it is today in the United States.Greek citizens didn’t think of themselves as individuals, but as people
who were a part of society as a whole.This meant that everyone’s rights were respected.Those who felt they were in any way better
than anyone else were ridiculed harshly.

Materialism vs. idealism

The
Marxist George Novack also wrote about Athenian democracy in his books Origins of Materialism and Democracy and Revolution.Novack argued that the two principal
schools of philosophy are materialism, vs.
idealism.Materialism argues that all thought comes from the material
world.Idealism argues that the mind
operates independently from material reality.Therefore idealists argue that God exists even though there is no
physical evidence of this.

The
debate between idealism and materialism took place in ancient Athens.Materialists were able to make scientific
innovations because of their study of science.Materialists also studied the events of their times without any
preconceived ideas of what should or should not be reported.

Idealists
also made legitimate criticisms of the materialists.Clearly the Athenians did not have the
knowledge we have today which led the materialists to make errors.However, the Athenian materialists were the ones
who first recognized that all matter was made up of tiny particles.Centuries later Albert Einstein confirmed
this theory and labeled these tiny particles atoms.

We
should also recognize that the Greeks of this time were deeply religious.However, the religions of those days
attempted to explain the world as it was and not to argue that a supernatural
being was responsible for all creation.The Greeks rotated their religious clerics as they rotated their
government officials.This idea that
everyone participated in government and religion led C. L. R. James to title
his article, Every Cook Can Govern.

Democracy before the Athenians

In
my readings of history I’ve found that many aspects of Athenian democracy were
not new.What was new was the fact that
the Greeks of that era made a somewhat thorough written record of their world.Of the developed societies of their era, the
Athenians were ones who best utilized democratic norms.

Throughout
most history human beings lived in communal societies.We know of these societies from the writers
who studied tribal people from all over the world.In these societies decisions were made
through discussions and leaders were chosen and removed through these
discussions.

Unlike
Greek democracy, we know that women experienced much more equality in these
societies.Lewis Henry Morgan wrote
about the real political power women had in his studies of the Iroquois who
lived in what is now the state of New York.

The opportunity to establish a true democracy

Looking
at history from this perspective we can appreciate George Novack’s statement
about the reality of the so-called “democracy” in the United States.Novack argued:

“A
system in which the people do not control the most important decisions and
actions of the government, their economy, their welfare or the course of their
lives can hardly be considered genuinely democratic.It can be more precisely defined as a
plutocracy dressed in democratic disguise.”A plutocracy is a government that serves the interests of the affluent.

Looking
at history from this perspective, we can see how working people have the
potential to transform the nations of the world into a genuine democracy.

About Me

I am the author of the novel "Looking Back From 2101." My novel imagines a future world where poverty and discrimination are no longer a part of the human condition. My blog contains articles and poems that I've written over the years. Many of my poems are biographies of historical figures who I have found to be inspiring.